BLACKBURN Rovers were rightly criticised last season for their shambolic transfer market activity, this summer it is as though they have been pursuing two very different strategies.
On the one hand they have stuck with bringing in inexperienced exports, this time from Portugal, while on the other they have finally landed some tried and trusted players who know the English game.
If the likes of Dickson Etuhu, Danny Murphy, Leon Best and Jordan Rhodes had been targeted last season, as opposed to a list of players we hardly saw, Rovers could undoubtedly still be in the Premier League.
So to see experience brought in is a welcome sight, although their insistence to bring in unknown players from abroad has not gone away.
It has to be said there is nothing wrong with bringing in young players from overseas if they really do have potential. We won’t know that until we see them play for a while.
The fear is we have already seen so many players brought to the club that simply should not have been and you can’t help but feel Rovers are still paying for that lack of judgement.
It is great to see so many new signings made but you just worry about exactly what the club are getting themselves into financially – with so few players offloaded this summer.
So, while a host of additions have been made, there will still be the same unwanted players clogging up the wage bill who were last season. There does not seem too much concern about balancing the books.
If Venky’s are prepared to bankroll this then that is up to them but the last thing anyone wants is for their Premier League charge to be paid for by debt. I’m told that won’t happen, but until the accounts are seen it is difficult to know.
I know some feel Venky’s can afford to spend big because of the funds received from sales and from parachute payments. That still doesn’t make up for the financial black hole that relegation has caused.
If Rovers go up this season then it will have worked. The decision to pay players big money will be a success. If they don’t, Venky’s have to be prepared to cover the losses that will be inevitable.
Players are being signed on big money on long contracts and that causes problems if Rovers are in the Championship for any significant length of time.
We have already seen how hard it is offload players that are not wanted anymore.
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